


Kitten Streams and Blue Cake

by yeah_you_bleed



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen, also kitten videos, and blue soda, late nights on the Argo ll, so I made my own, there is blue cake, there isn't enough Nico/Leo friendship in the world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-19 06:19:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8193485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeah_you_bleed/pseuds/yeah_you_bleed
Summary: In the late nights onboard the Argo ll, Leo makes a new friend. Spoilers from Mark of Athena through to the end of House of Hades.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking about how little Leo and Nico got to interact, and this idea came to me. 
> 
> (I haven't read Blood of Olympus, or the first Trials of Apollo book yet. Please don't spoil them for me.)

Leo yawns. It the third time he's yawned in the last few minutes. Which means it's very late at night. Which also means that if he happens to see his reflection at any point, he'll probably scare himself with his appearance. 

He's been working since they'd all finished eating dinner. Jason and Piper had gone off to hold hands and enjoy the view and all that sappy stuff. Hazel and Frank had left the room holding hands, Frank whispering something and Hazel giggling. Coach Hedge had gone to patrol the deck, and to keep his eyes on Jason and Piper. Nico had done that thing where he disappears into the shadows. So Leo had wound up where he always does, in the ship's engine room, playing with his mechanics.

He's trying to make it so that the ship's monitor will play things besides Camp Half-Blood. He wishes he'd never installed that thing. All it did was make everybody homesick. So he's trying to make it play streams of random places. Deep sea submarine explorations. Kittens in a room full of kitten things. A satellite overlooking the Earth. Anything but Camp. 

Fixing and tinkering helps Leo think. He can think about anything. He likes thinking about the people on the ship. Jason and Piper are his best friends and they're great. Frank is... Frank. He doesn't think much about Frank, besides the dragon stuff. Dragons are cool. Hazel is complicated. Girl from the 1940's that dated his great-granddad. Then she died and came back. Complicated. Coach Hedge is like a small furry version of the Hulk. Also less green. Percy and Annabeth are nice but they're in Tartarus and it feels like it's his fault cause everything's always his-

Leo shakes his head. No, no he's not thinking about that.

A wire sparks. His entire arm buzzes. If it wasn't for the whole fire/heat resistance thing, that probably would've hurt. Leo ignores it and carries on meddling with the wires. This is his element, right here. White muscle shirt that's more grease and oil than shirt at this point, tattered jeans and a bunch of wires and gears. Also late at night. And for once, he can't hear Nico going around. Nico doesn't sleep much. The dude looks like he could collapse at any given minute cause of it. He doesn't eat much either. At least Leo eats. 

The same wire sparks again. His hand goes numb. Leo retracts his arm and shakes his hand around, spraying oil on his face. He hates it when the wires do that. It feels weird. And cold. He doesn't like cold. Makes him think of Khione. 

Once feeling comes back to his hand, Leo sets back to work. He reaches into his toolbelt, but his hand meets nothing. He pats his torso for a second, then looks down. No toolbelt. He always wears his toolbelt. He looks around, and sees it lying on the floor. "When did I...?" She shakes his head. Nevermind. It's like 3 am. He's probably delirious. 

He goes and picks up the belt. He probably wouldn't have noticed Nico, but he sure does when he straightens back up and comes face to face with the son of Hades.

Leo doesn't scream, exactly, but he does make a very undignified sound as he jumps three feet away. He stares at Nico, wide-eyed, his heart hammering against his rib cage.

Nico, sitting on one of the control panels, doesn't seem startled at all. "Sorry." He says, not sounding very sorry at all.

Leo puts a hand on his chest. "No biggie, I forgot I was scheduled for a heart attack at 3 in the morning." He replies. Or gasps. He sounds very out of breath.

Nico tilts his head like a confused cat. "You're not having a heart attack." He says it like it's obvious.

"It's a figure of speech." Leo really has to teach this kid about humor. 

In the light that Leo always puts up so that he can see in the dark, Nico looks even paler. His olive skin is almost grey, like it'd been when he'd first come aboard the Argo ll after being held prisoner by the twins. He's got dark rings underneath his eyes, like he always does, but at night they look even worse. He's not wearing his jacket though, so Leo can see his arms, which are thin as the rest of him.

Nico looks past him, at the open panel on the controls. "What are you doing?" He asks. He either looks genuinely curious or not very curious. Leo can't tell.

Leo wraps his belt around his waist. "Trying to make the monitor in the mess hall show different things," He looks up at Nico, "How long have you been sitting there?" He asks in turn.

Nico thinks for a moment, then shrugs his narrow shoulders. "A bit." 

Leo reaches into the toolbelt, and pulls out the wire cutter he needs. "Ya know, most people are asleep right now." He remarks.

Nico raises an eyebrow at him. "You're not." He points out.

Leo pauses. "Touché." He replies. He turns around, and goes back to his fixing. He finds the faulty wire, which is unfortunately very thin, and before he can cut it it shocks him again. His hand goes numb again and he curses. Numerous times. In Spanish.

"You ok?" Nico asks from behind him. 

Ok, so he's staying. Leo pretends that the idea of the son of Hades staring at him while he works doesn't creep him out. "Yeah, this wire just hates me." He mutters. He goes in with the cutters again, and this time he cuts it successfully. It's a very satisfying feeling.

Time passes in silence for a little bit. Leo can still feel Nico's presence. He swears that the guy makes the temperature drop whenever he's in a room. Which Leo doesn't mind, per say, but it's a bit unsettling. Nico is just unsettling. He doesn't think much about Nico, because he really doesn't know what to think about. He doesn't know him. He just knows that he's a son of Hades, and that he doesn't talk much. 

Leo decides to try and strike up conversation. He doesn't feel the need to talk much when he's working, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't want to get to know Nico more. "I'm guessing you don't sleep much either?" Leo asks, pretending that he doesn't hear Nico pacing the halls and the deck literally every night.

There's a pause. Leo thinks Nico isn't going to reply, but then he does, "Not really, no."

Leo nods. Progress. "I get that." He says, reattaching a couple wires.

"You do this every night?" Nico asks. 

Leo suddenly realizes that Nico is right beside him. He hadn't even heard him move. "Most nights," he replies, after he manages to not jump out of his skin, "Clear my head. Helps me think. Sleep means weird demigod nightmares and old Dirt Face talking to me." He adds.

Nico nods. He's watching Leo's hands, buried in the workings of the ship, covered in oil and grease. "Son of Hephaestus, right?" 

Leo looks up, caught off guard. 

Nico immediately backtracks. "Hazel mentioned." He adds.

Leo nods, thinking back to when Hazel had been practically glued to Nico's side while he'd recovered from his jar ordeal. "Yeah. You need any machines fixed, Leo Valdez is your man." He says.

Nico glances up so that he's actually looking him in the eye. "She also told me you can summon fire." He says it like he wants to ask Leo to summon fire, but he doesn't want to actually ask.

Leo pulls his hands out of the panel. He grabs a rag, stained black and brown, and quickly wipes off his hands. "You have any problems with fire?" He asks. He's made a habit out of asking new people, because of how much his ability freaks Frank out. Nico shakes his head, so he summons a ball of fire to his palm.

The look that Nico gets on his face is hard to describe. Leo wants to say that he looks amazed. His eyes widen, and the light plays across his face. It makes him look younger, which is a bit weird, but Nico always looks older than he really is. Leo looks at him now and remembers what Percy had said, when he'd told them about Nico. Nico might've been born in the 1930's, then trapped in a time-stopping Casino, then brought back into the real world, but he was still only fourteen. 

Leo dissipates the fire because Nico hasn't blinked in at least a minute and it's concerning him. He's been intimidated by Nico since he started getting his strength back, but right now he doesn't feel any of that. He doesn't even feel creeped out. He doesn't know what he feels. "I hear you can summon zombies." He says, sticking his hands back in the panel.

Nico blinks a couple times, probably clearing spots from his vision. "Skeleton warriors." He corrects.

Leo is grateful that he doesn't try to summon them on the ship. He doesn't think it's possible, but hey, lots of things are possible. "Can you summon gold and stuff like Hazel?" He asks.

Nico shakes his head. "No."

"Can she summon skeleton warriors?"

"No."

Nico Di Angelo is very fond of short answers, apparently.

Leo clicks the last gear into place. "Finally!" He exclaims, because he's been working for hours, while Nico's been watching, and he's very tired.

Nico watches him shut the panel. "Did you get it to work?" He asks.

Leo wipes his hands again. "Only one way to find out!" He exclaims, and heads for the door. It takes him a second to realize that Nico isn't following. He looks back, and the kid's looking at him, looking very confused, "Well, come and look!" He prompts, waving Nico over.

Nico hesitates, but he follows. He walks beside Leo to the mess hall, apparently used to the ship's hallways at night. Probably because he walks them every night, but Leo decides not to bring that up.

The monitor in the mess hall makes the room glow. Leo steps inside, and grins. The monitor is showing the submarine exploration stream, and the blue water casts rippling blue light all over the room. "Much better." He says, glancing at Nico out of the corner of his eye.

Nico's face is awash with blue light. He looks almost wistful, staring at the scene of the sea. 

Leo looks at the screen just as a school of brightly coloured fish swim by. "Percy's gonna love it when he-" He looks back to where Nico had been, but he's not there. 

Leo sighs, not in a sad way just an all around way, and looks back at the monitor.

\---

It's a couple nights later when it happens again.

Leo's just cleaning for now. It's late, but not that late. His mind's bursting with ideas and plans but he can't seem to focus on one. Which is what usually happens, but tonight he's itching to fix or make or take apart or something, and he can't think of what to do. Well, he is thinking of what to do, but he can't decide on what to do. And it's frustrating.

He turns around, tosses the dirty rag where he always tosses his dirty rags, and watches it land right on Nico's head.

Nico, unamused as ever, takes the rag off his head and tosses it to the floor. 

"I didn't know you were there." Leo states, only a bit nervous, as Nico fixes his messy hair. 

Nico looks more exhausted than ever. Like he hasn't slept since the other night. Which, granted, he probably hasn't. Because he's some sort of zombie, Leo is convinced. "I guessed." He replies, flatly.

"You look like you haven't slept in three days." Leo comments. There isn't really anything else he can think of to say. He could say that Nico looks like death, which is ironic cause of his parentage, but he doubts that Nico will find the humour in that.

"I haven't." Nico says it like its the most casual thing in the world. 

Leo is both very intimidated by and very concerned about this child. "You should do something about that." He advises.

"Later." Nico replies stubbornly, with a stubborn expression that is not unlike a toddler being told to go to bed when they're clearly exhausted but they don't want to go.

Leo makes the quick decision that he's not going to start comparing Nico to a toddler. "I'm not messing with stuff right now," He says, "Might be boring."

Nico shrugs. "I've got nothing better to do." He replies.

You could sleep, Leo is tempted to say, but he doesn't say it out loud because he's a bit worried that he'll say the wrong thing and piss him off. He doesn't want to piss Nico off. Nico scares him. "You ok?" He asks before he can stop himself.

Nico stares at him for a moment. Apparently that wasn't what he was expecting. "Fine." He replies curtly.

Leo takes that as 'not fine at all' but he doesn't pry. "Well, I'm fine too." He says. He pulls another rag out of his belt, and goes back to cleaning.

Nico doesn't leave. Leo is not surprised by this. "If you want food or something, I can get the ship to give you something." He says idly. It's not really a conversation starter. He just doesn't want to be in the quiet right now. Tonight's one of the bad nights. Too many thoughts, all too loud. 

"Not hungry." Nico replies, which doesn't surprise Leo at all.

Leo is starting to feel more concerned about this kid than he is afraid. At least, right now. In the daylight, Nico scares him and they don't talk. He continues cleaning, which takes all of two minutes because he was almost done anyways. He takes care to not throw this rag into Nico's face. 

"You wanna go watch a video stream of kittens?" Leo asks. Invites. Whatever. He can tell he won't be sleeping tonight. But he has the opportunity to not be alone for once, so he has to at least try. 

Nico shrugs. "Sure." 

They walk into the mess hall. The ship is cool, with the night wind coming off the waves and into the halls. Leo feels warm inside his jacket. Nico's wearing his aviator jacket this time, hands shoved in the pockets and his shoulders up near his ears. So he's cold, but he doesn't want it to be obvious. 

The video is a pleasant sight. Really, who doesn't love kittens? Leo loves the little things. He strolls over the table and hops up on it, disregarding the chairs entirely. The kittens are all awake, mewing and bouncing around and playing with toys and doing all their cute little kitten things.

Nico hops up beside him. He doesn't really watch with interest, but he looks fascinated. Leo finds himself wondering if Nico's ever seen a kitten before. He shuts down that train of thought, and lets the video absorb his attention. He likes the ginger kitty named Mango. It keeps on jumping on a grey kitten's head.

A noise catches his attention. He glances at Nico out of the corner of his eye. He's holding a plate, and eating- is that blue cake? Leo decides not to question it, and turns his attention back to Mango and all the other kittens.

Two pieces of cake later and Leo finds himself drinking soda. Blue soda. 

\--- 

It's starting to become a thing with them.

Leo does stuff in the engine room. Nico shows up at some point. Sometimes they talk, sometimes they stay completely quiet. Sometimes they go to the mess hall and watch kitten streams, sometimes Leo goes to bed, sometimes they're in the engine room till Hazel walks by and Nico shadow travels away (Leo thinks it's cause he doesn't want to deal with Hazel yelling at him).

It's another kitten night. Nico hasn't started eating blue food yet. Probably because Hazel made him eat more than like, one grape at dinner. Leo drinks his blue soda. He likes blue soda. It's pleasing to look at, though he can't explain why. It kinda makes him think of Percy. But not the sad kind of thoughts where he's constantly reminded that him and Annabeth are in literal Hell But Worse, the kind of thoughts that make him even more determined to get them back. 

They're about an hour into watching kitten stream. Nico's apparently picked out a favorite kitten. He won't admit it, though. But Leo has definitely noticed him watching the grey kitten, Foggy, more than the others. 

Foggy jumps on Mango's butt.

Something drops on Leo's shoulder. 

Leo almost jumps clear off the table. He glances over, and sees that Nico's passed out. And leaning on his shoulder. Nico Di Angelo is asleep and leaning on his shoulder. That's not something that happens every day. Or ever.

Leo has no idea how to proceed with this. He could let Nico stay there, but then the others could see, and Leo knows that Hazel will never let Nico live it down. He doesn't want to do that to the poor kid. He could let him slide off and sleep on the table. But knowing the kid's luck, he'll hit his head or something. He doesn't actually have a room on the ship, so there really isn't anywhere to sleep. Except for Leo's cabin. Which has literally never been used cause Leo likes his engine room better.

Is that the thought process that leads to Leo walking down the ship's hall, with a sleeping Nico Di Angelo on his back? Probably. Nico, ironically, sleeps like the dead. Because Leo had to get him off the table, and has almost dropped him three times, and he's yet to even stir. 

Leo finds his cabin. He awkwardly nudges it open with his foot. He creeps inside, tries to put Nico down nicely, but gives up and drops him on the bed. 

Nico doesn't even twitch. It's kind of creepy.

Leo quickly makes his way out of the room before Nico miraculously wakes up. He's already going over his denial speech in his head. _No, I didn't carry you to bed, you shadow travelled. Yeah, it was my cabin, but you were really tired and you probably just missed wherever you usually sleep._

Yeah that'll work. 

Maybe. 

\---

There is something seriously wrong with Nico tonight.

Leo had noticed it straight away. For one thing, he'd been acting off all day. And off, for a kid like Nico, was not good. He was even more distant. He didn't even talk to Hazel. He didn't even show up for dinner. Everyone seemed worried about him, especially Jason and Hazel. Whatever had happened in Split must've been big.

As for tonight, as soon as the last person went to bed, Nico had appeared in the engine room, in his favorite spot on the control panel. He was hunched, shoulders to his ears, torso curling like he was trying to make himself smaller. He hadn't said a word, but he'd practically radiated misery.

Leo left him to his silence. He was only doing a couple minor changes tonight. Reconnecting wires and changing gears, blah blah blah. Maybe the ship would go faster or something.

After an hour, Leo finishes. He turns to look at Nico. And Holy Hephaestus, does the kid's expression feel like a punch to the gut. He looks absolutely miserable, staring at the floor, curled in on himself with his arms around his knees. His eyes are rimmed red. Leo has an awful suspicion that he's been crying.

He simultaneously wants to hug the kid and punch whatever upset him. Which is a weird feeling, but that's definitely what's going on. 

He doesn't dare go hug him, though. Nico doesn't seem like the kind of guy who likes physical contact unless he's the one initiating it.

"Rough day?" Leo asks, not at all expecting an answer.

And at first, he doesn't get one. Nico still stares at the floor, looking like somebody just tore his heart in half. Then he replies, "I'm fine." In a small voice that tells Leo he's definitely been crying.

Leo's ready to punch Gaea in her great muddy face if it would cheer Nico up. "You wanna go eat blue cake and watch kittens?" He asks. 

Nico gives a small shake of his head. 

Leo will fight an entire planet. Looking at Nico now, he has a hard time seeing him as a child of the Big Three. One of the most powerful demigods in existence. A kid who can raise the dead, who's powers rival those of Jason and Percy. Right now he looks small, and his eyes are full of pain, and Leo remembers that Nico is barely fourteen and something really, really bad must've happened to make him like this.

Leo tries to think. He needs to do something. Nico doesn't like physical contact much, and he doubts Nico will want it from him of all people. Nico also likes quiet, which Leo can work with. He likes being alone, but that's not an option. He mulls over his options, and an idea comes to him.

"I can just come and sit over there with you." He offers.

Nico doesn't reply. Just looks up at him with those dark, sad eyes.

"Won't hug you or anything," Leo adds, "Won't even talk. I'll just kinda... Sit there and make stuff." He gestures at his toolbelt. He can't promise to be still, because he's never still, but he can be quiet. He's good at quiet when he wants to be. 

Nico stares at the floor still, not meeting Leo's very worried gaze. "If you'll shut up, fine." His reply is harsh, and bitter, but Leo doesn't take it to heart. 

Leo hops up on the control panel beside Nico. He reaches into his toolbelt and pulls out different things, like wires and scrap metal and gears. He doesn't have an idea of what he's making, but his hands move almost automatically. 

He doesn't know how much time passes that way. Leo builds and disassembles and the cycle repeats. Nico stares at the floor for the most part. Sometimes he watches what Leo's doing. Eventually he rests his chin on his knees, and stares blankly at the controls by his feet.

Nico buries his face in his knees. Leo doesn't want to look, but he does out of the corner of his eye, and he can see that Nico's shaking. He's hugging himself so tightly, Leo can see his knuckles paling. He looks away, because he knows Nico wouldn't want him to be looking, and because he doesn't want to see what's about to happen.

Nico's shoulders start quaking with poorly muffled sobs. Leo pretends he doesn't notice. 

\---

Leo misses Calypso.

Every time he tries to fix something, or work on something, he thinks of Calypso. Calypso and her perfect hair and her perfect smile and her perfect lips on his-

He hits the engine with a wrench. Then he sighs and rubs the same spot with his hand. "Sorry." He whispers, cause he loves his ship and he cares about her feelings.

"Rough day?" Comes Nico's voice from behind him.

Leo turns around to face him. He's so used to Nico popping up that at this point that it no longer startles him. "Me? No. I'm fine. I'm always fine." He waves a hand like he's trying to wave off Nico's... Concerns? He doesn't know what to call it.

Nico crosses his arms over his chest. He's sitting in his favorite spot. Whatever had shaken him so badly that night however long ago (time was weird on Ogygia), he seems to have gotten over it. Thank Zeus. "Where were you?" He asks.

Leo feels like he's about to be interrogated. So he decides to be as difficult as possible. "Dunno," He says, shrugging his shoulders, "Didn't ask." 

Nico gives him an accusing stare. "You're lying." 

"You're annoying." Leo shoots back. It sucks, but he's irritable and heartbroken and he wants to brood in peace.

Nico sighs. His shoulders slump. Leo hadn't noticed that he'd been tensed up. "You don't wanna talk about it. I get that." He says.

Leo wants to snap at him, you don't get it at all, but he has a feeling that Nico does get it. Somehow. "You're using my own words against me." He accuses, narrowing his eyes. He has vague memories of having a conversation (or multiple) like this with Nico, in this very room, however late at night.

Nico shrugs. "I'm not good with words." He replies.

"Neither am I." Leo says, turning away. He goes back to messing with his mechanics. And gives up approximately two seconds later when oil shoots out and makes a perfect arc so that it can spray him in the face. He shuts the panel more harshly than usual, grumbling moodily.

There's a noise behind him. Leo looks over his shoulder, and is met by a sight that almost rivals the time Nico fell asleep on him. Almost. 

Nico's got a hand clamped over his mouth. His shoulders are shaking. Muffled giggles get past his fingers. He's laughing.

Leo thinks it might be the most beautiful thing he's ever heard. "What's so funny?" He huffs. But he can't make himself feel angry. It's hard enough to do it with oil dropping off his chin. It's impossible to do it with the son of Hades trying and failing to hide his laughter.

Nico takes his hand away from his face. "You." He replies, pointing at the oil now dripping on the front of Leo's shirt. He's stopped laughing, but there's still a big grin on his face. Like, a genuine smile. Not that one he gets when he's about to kick your ass and he knows he's about to kick your ass. 

Leo finds himself smiling too. It's hard not too. "That's me, the funny one." He doesn't mean for it sound bitter, he really doesn't. But it comes out that way. Zeus, he must really be in a bad mood if Nico smiling doesn't cheer him up. 

Nico frowns at him. Leo thinks he might look concerned. He doesn't know what Nico looks like when he's concerned. "Kitten stream and blue cake?" He offers.

Now that catches Leo off guard. Of all the things he expected Nico to say, that wasn't one of them. He'd expected 'you're not that funny' or even just complete silence. Not the offer that he himself had extended to Nico that one night. Which means that Nico remembers that.

He doesn't know what the warmth blooming in his chest is. Gratitude? Happiness? He just knows it's a nice feeling. "Throw in some blue soda and I'm in." He replies.

Nico doesn't smile, exactly. The corner of his mouth twitches. But he looks happy. Or maybe it's relieved? One of the two. "Sure." He agrees. Leo is so used to that word sounding bitter, or indifferent, that hearing it in a positive way is like music to his ears.

So they walk to the mess hall, ignore the chairs in favour of the table, and Leo switches the monitor from a stream of a crow's nest on a window ledge to the kitten stream. As usual, the kittens are awake, and doing their kitten things. Leo finds Mango, who's rolling around with his entire body wrapped around a green ball.

After a bit, Nico is the one who breaks the quiet. "I missed you." He says quietly.

Leo looks over at him, a forkful of blue cake halfway to his open mouth. Nico's plate is empty, and he's staring at it in a way that suggests he's trying to avoid looking at Leo. For once, Leo has literally no comment. He doesn't know what to say. All he can think of is how when his friends had come for him, Nico had just shaken his hand. Which was like, his equivalent of a hug or something. Hazel had practically squealed.

"I missed," Nico looks up, and gestures vaguely at the room, "This." In the light coming off the monitor, Leo can see that Nico's pale face is a shade darker than usual. It actually looks healthy. Then he looks back at the stream, and stares pointedly at Foggy, who's playing with a blue blanket.

Leo tries to act like Nico's words didn't just make his heart grow three sizes. "I missed you too, buddy." He says. Because he did miss this. Nico, despite how ominous and unapproachable he is when everybody else is around, makes for really good company.

Nico doesn't scowl at him for calling him 'buddy'. That's probably a big deal. 

Leo looks back at the stream. Mango has made his way over to Foggy, and they're playing with the blue blanket together.

\---

Leo slips in the last gear. He grins brightly, and gives himself a little mental high five. He'd been working on this for hours, since he'd gotten the opportunity to slip away from his friends.

It's not that he didn't want to stay for the big reunion with Percy and Annabeth. Well, it's partially that, but it was for a good reason. He'd been working on this idea to surprise them for when they got back, and then they'd actually come back and so the pressure had been put on.

Yes, that is the sun slowly staring to glow over the horizon. And yes, that means he hasn't slept in approximately three days. But that's irrelevant. He'll sleep later. 

But he's finished.

Leo closes up the panel, and claps his hands together. If he'd done everything right- which, when it came to machines, he usually does- then the stables will now be able to make rainbows. Not the stables themselves, obviously, but with the glass floor and a couple new light installations, Percy and Annabeth can now send Iris messages to Camp whenever they want. Well, so can Jason and Piper and himself, but he did it with Percy and Annabeth in mind. After so much time away, and then a surprise trip to Tartarus to top it all off, the two of them deserve to call home and assure everybody that they're not, in fact, dead.

Leo tosses his rag away with a flourish. "They're gonna love this!" He exclaims, "I dunno if you wanna use it, but-" He whirls around, and freezes.

Nico's usual spot is empty.

Leo deflates. His shoulders sag. "That's right," He murmurs, "You're not here." He'd forgotten. Nico's off who knows where by now, shadow travelling, taking the Athena Parthenos to Camp with Reyna and Coach Hedge. 

Leo stares at Nico's spot for a minute longer. Then he walks past faster than he probably needs to. He taps absently on his thigh, focuses on that, tries not to think about how lonely his nights are going to get again. He doesn't know when he started to think of Nico as his friend, but he does. He does, and he didn't think about the fact that Nico wouldn't be around anymore. He hadn't even said goodbye.

It takes him a few minutes to realize that he's not randomly tapping on his thigh. He's speaking in Morse Code.

_I miss you._


End file.
